The burnt out, pandemic-trodden, cost-of-living distressed people of the UK have spoken and the Oxford Dictionary Word of 2022 is "goblin mode".
The phrase topped the Oxford Dictionary's public vote, garnering 93 per cent of votes against contenders "metaverse" and "#IStandWith".
Going goblin mode has steadily climbed into the public's lexicon throughout the year, even getting an honourable mention in Australia's Macquarie Dictionary 2022 Word of the Year race.
What is meant by 'goblin mode'?
Ever woken up on the couch at an ungodly time, only to shuffle to the kitchen in a dirty shirt to fix yourself a snack of shredded cheese eaten straight from the bag?
Then you, my friend, might have just gone goblin mode.
Or, if you want to get literal, the Oxford Dictionary defines goblin mode as "a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations."
So, same thing, basically.
Where did going 'goblin mode' come from?
The phrase "goblin mode" has roots right back to Twitter in 2009, but it was a 2022 viral tweet by user @JUNIPER that made it this year's word du jour.
Following the fallout from Kanye West's break-up with model Julia Fox, @JUNIPER tweeted a doctored headline attributed to Fox that said their relationship crumbled because West didn't like it when she went goblin mode.
The news was fake, of course, but that didn't stop it from spreading across the internet until Fox put a stop to it on her Instagram Stories, commenting: "Just for the record. I have never used the term 'goblin mode'."
But the goblin was already out of the box, and people were already creating cat-based parody accounts to capitalise off the phrase's popularity.
Oxford Languages says a lot of people relate to the quasi-nihilistic notion as a backlash to the picture-perfect posts that flood our social media.
"Given the year we've just experienced, 'goblin mode' resonates with all of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed at this point," Oxford Languages president Casper Grathwohl says.
"It's a relief to acknowledge that we're not always the idealised, curated selves that we're encouraged to present on our Instagram and TikTok feeds."
Goblin mode's tongue-in-check win has injected some levity to Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year history with "vax" (short for vaccination) winning in 2021, "climate emergency" in 2019 and "toxic" in 2018.
No single word was chosen in 2020, with Oxford declaring it an "unprecedented" year.
Teal on the tip of Australian tongues
Closer to home, Macquarie Dictionary's editorial committee last week declared that "teal" was the Australian word of 2022 thanks to the victorious independent candidates in May's federal election.
But when put to the public, Aussies voted "bachelor's handbag" as the People's Choice Word of the Year.
A bachelor's handbag refers to a supermarket hot chook due to its nifty handles and tendency to be bought by single men who view the bird as the ultimate ready-to-eat meal.
Other words that made it to the Aussie shortlist include "nepo baby" (a celebrity that achieved their status in part due to a famous relative), "spicy cough" (COVID-19) and "yassify" (the act of editing a image in order to make the subject look extremely glamorous).
